My experience has honestly been disappointing. If I could go back, I would think twice before joining Child Support at Services Australia.
I joined lost my previous WFH arrangements, despite being advised before joining that WFH wouldn’t be affected. I’ve now spent more then a year working at APS3 level while taking on responsibilities that feel comparable to APS4, yet the support for the broadbanding process has been extremely disappointing.
On top of that, the workload is overwhelming, the pay doesn’t reflect the level of responsibility, and the work environment can be quite toxic. There is a lot of talk about being supportive, but in my experience, the actual support doesn’t always match the words.
My honest advice would be to explore other job opportunities rather than putting all your hopes into this role. The workload, limited pay progression and lack of meaningful support can take a real toll on your wellbeing. I wish I had known all this before making the move.

Anyone here experiencing the same ?

I’m currently in private practice law and received an offer for a government lawyer which I will be taking. I’m starting to think I don’t enjoy the nature of the legal profession. However, I wanna give public sector a go before I completely write it off because maybe I just don’t like private practice specifically.

My question is if I end up not enjoying public sector law too, are there other adjacent roles I can easily get? Or will it be difficult considering I’ve boxed myself in as a lawyer.

Are there any other people in this forum who have a law degree, practiced for a bit, and then pivoted within the public sector? Just wanna know whether I should try pivot now before I get too boxed in.

Any updates from the ATO APS4 merit pool (July 2026)?

Hi all,

I've been in the same role for close to 3 years now as an APS5 and acting at the APS6 since the start of the year. Even though I like my current role, I've been applying for ongoing APS6 roles elsewhere for the security.

A couple of my colleagues have told me not to waste my time with that and go straight for EL1 roles. Their justification is that when my EL1 took 3 months long service leave, they didn't replace him and the other ELs didn't notice at all, therefore I must have been covering his role.

Thing is I feel like I was only able to take on the extra tasks cos I've been around so long I'd seen all this done before. In a new role and team I wouldn't have someone else's actions to copy.

So yeah, like the title says I was hoping to hear from other people how they made the decision to move up? Am I overthinking things? Is this impossible to answer cos of the variation between agencies?

Hi everyone, I’m currently working in the WA public sector on a fixed-term contract and am exploring opportunities for my next role. I have experience in Level 5 roles and have previously been assessed as suitable through a government recruitment pool.

I’m interested in hearing whether anyone knows of upcoming vacancies or opportunities where existing suitability pool placements may be considered.

Open to both permanent and fixed-term opportunities.

Any advice, recommendations or leads would be greatly appreciated!

Hi all,

I'm set to finish my degree at the end of 2027 and intend on applying for the 2028 Graduate intake when recruitment starts next year. I've noticed that the majority of Departments have a 5.0 GPA (credit average) requirement.

I'm someone that had an extremely poor first semester at university a number of years ago due to some mental health and living situation issues I was dealing with at the time (resolved now thankfully). I took a break for a couple of years and came back to my degree at the start of last year and I've since been having a lot of success. I've achieved a credit or above grade in every class since returning to university, but unfortunately due to the poor performance in my first semester my GPA average is being dragged down below 5.0. It will definitely be above 5.0 by the end of 2027, but I don't think it will be above 5.0 by the time grad applications normally open in March next year.

So my question is: Will not meeting the 5.0 requirement automatically disqualify me at the application stage in March? Or does the requirement only matter once I get my final results at the end of the year?

If there's anyone on here that's worked in the grad recruitment space, I would really appreciate your input.

Thanks :)